1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for extending the function of an output unit, such as a printer or a CRT, by the use of a PC card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the recent spread of networks, there is a demand for connecting an output unit, such as a printer or a CRT, by a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet to function the output unit as a terminal unit on the network.
Contrary to this, the output unit is usually not provided with a function of network communication, modem or the like because of use for a particular purpose of application. For this reason, the functional extension of the output unit must be made by the use of a function-extending device of a PC card of a PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) standard (PCMCIA card).
However, such an output unit is not mounted with a PCMCIA-standard slot. Thus, it is impossible to directly insert a PC card.
In order to extend the function of the output unit by using a PC card, there is a necessity to connect between an input/output port of the output unit and an input/output port of the personal computer through a connection cable and conversion connector, thereby inserting a PC card in a slot of the personal computer.
By thus connecting between the output unit and the personal computer, the data of the PC card can be confirmed in contents on a display screen and outputted onto the output unit by the operation on the personal-computer end.
Herein, there is a demand for the operation to confirm the data content of a PC card on a display screen or to output data onto the output unit depending upon the operation on another terminal unit (personal computer, workstation, portable terminal unit or the like) connected to a network instead of a personal computer directly connected to the output unit.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to enable an operation, such as confirmation of the data content of a PC card on a display screen or outputting data onto an output unit, depending upon the operation of another terminal unit connected to a network.